A unique affiliation agreement developed by the heart experts at Covenant Heart and Vascular Institute and Texas Heart Institute of Houston will create opportunities locally for physicians and patients.

Dr. Robert Salem, chief medical officer emeritus for Covenant Health System, first broached the idea of creating an affiliation between the two institutions, which was announced Friday.

The agreement provides for a quick, seamless process for transferring patients from Lubbock to Houston to be cared for at Texas Heart Institute, Salem said. Patients in need of heart or lung transplants may be transported to Houston for care.

“While our own cardiovascular institute staff of many highly confident and skilled cardiologists and surgeons — and we treat most cardiovascular conditions quite excellently — we occasionally see highly complex cardiovascular conditions that we thought the patient’s best interest would be served by transporting them to a facility that dealt with these conditions on almost a daily basis,” Salem said.

The implantation of mechanical artificial hearts, called left ventricular assist devices, also will be performed in Houston, he said.

Patients with complex thoraco-abdominal aortic aneurysms, which involve the thoracic aorta and extend into the abdominal aorta, will be treated in Houston as well, Salem explained.

“It is so complex that very few people have much expertise with that type of thing, where as in Houston, that’s where they do most of these in the world, and that’s where most patients go to who have these,” Salem said.

Discussions began in 2010 between Salem and Dr. Denton A. Cooley, the founder, surgeon-in-chief and president emeritus of Texas Heart Institute.

The arrangement is the first of its kind for both institutions.

The partnership is a result of Salem’s personal, long-standing relationship with Cooley, Salem said.

Several members of the Covenant cardiac team received their medical training from THI, he added.

The Houston institute and its clinical partner, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, is one of the nation’s largest cardiovascular centers.

Salem said regardless the patient’s condition, when Covenant calls THI about a patient it would like to transfer, THI will accept the patient immediately.

In the past, Salem explained, the process took time, involving many phone calls.

Dr. James Willerson, president and medical director of THI, said for the Houston institute, the agreement means extending its reach to help people from West Texas and New Mexico.

When the opportunity is not in Lubbock, he said, a patient in serious need will find experts at THI.

“They’re coming to one of the top-10-ranked heart centers in the world. It will mean very, very skilled surgeons and cardiologists will be helping them. ... We have lung transplant programs, and that doesn’t exist everywhere,” Willerson said. “It would be my expectation it would mean to them that pain and discomfort and limitations that they have would be cured and sometimes their death prevented.”

The partnership also allows for extending the Houston institution’s educational programs and some of its clinical research programs, Willerson said, particularly with left ventricular assist devices and stem cells.

Salem added if Covenant ever wants to implant artificial hearts in Lubbock, the doctors at THI have agreed to travel to the Hub City to speak with the surgeons about the procedure.

“It provides for everyone (in Lubbock) to become more experienced and maybe a little bit more skilled, and take part in developing programs you may not have right now,” Willerson said.

Salem said Covenant will participate in research protocols with the Houston institution. When the FDA establishes protocol for new drugs or devices, the institution enrolls patients to test the new items.

A certain number of patients is required for the clinical experiments, he said, and with the agreement, Covenant will reach the number quicker.

The Covenant institute also will invite cardiologists and surgeons from THI to Lubbock to put on educational programs, and Covenant's staff can travel to Houston to participate in classes with THI, Salem said.

The two-year agreement became effective Aug. 31, and an automatic renewal can be expected biannually by mutual consent, according to a Covenant Health System news release.

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Back in August my nephew was at Covenant. He has a major heart condition that will eventually result in a heart transplant. He lay in the bed with all of his organs shutting down. The only hope he has was to go to The Texas Heart Institute in Houston. He wa loasded onto an ambulance and sent immediatley to St. Luke's. He recieved an LVAD. It is a very complex machine attached to his heart that ensures his heart will pump blood and nutrients to all of his organs. He is alive today because THI accepted his case and Covenant was able to get him there in a timely matter. I am so happy that they have this partenership.